Ottawa police Chief Charles Bordeleau ought to denounce the “racist views” allegedly made by one of his officers about Inuit and other indigenous peoples, Natan Obed says in his first public remarks since the death of renowned Inuit artist Annie Pootoogook.

Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the national organization representing Canada’s 60,000 Inuit, said in an open letter sent to the Citizen that Bordeleau’s refusal to call out racist behaviour within his force comes at the expense of Canada’s indigenous communities and other marginalized members of society.

His public remarks come after Ottawa police launched an investigation into one of their own officers after Veldon Coburn, an Algonquin man, complained that comments posted on a Facebook account linking back to a police officer were “hostile and racist.”

The online comments were posted under an Ottawa Citizen article in which the police asked for the public’s help in retracing the steps of Pootoogook, whose body was found in the Rideau River on Sept. 19.

They were posted by a Facebook account linking back to Sgt. Chris Hrnchiar. The comments have since been deleted and the name on the account changed but not before Coburn captured images of the officer in his police uniform.

While the police did not initially deem Pootoogook’s death as suspicious, it is now treating it as such.

One of the comments posted online said: “Because much of the aboriginal population in Canada is just satisfied being alcohol or drug abusers, living in poor conditions etc … they have to have the will to change, it’s not society’s fault.”

Another comment appeared to pass judgment on the case as the investigation was underway.

“And of course this has nothing to do with missing and murdered Aboriginal women … it’s not a murder case … it’s (sic) could be a suicide, accidental, she got drunk and fell in the river and drowned who knows … typically many Aboriginals have very short lifespans, talent or not,” the post said.

Bordeleau condemned the remarks this week but stopped short of calling them racist.

“This shameful, clumsy endorsement of racist behaviour by his subordinate has dangerous implications for marginalized members of the population like Inuit,” Obed says in the open letter.

“Ottawa police Chief Bordeleau’s attempt to gloss over the real-life implications for Indigenous peoples of having an outwardly racist police officer serving the city of Ottawa comes at a time when Canada has committed itself to a path of reconciliation with Indigenous Canadians.

“This is unacceptable,” Obed says.

In an email to the Citizen Friday, Bordeleau decried the “racial undertones” of the online comments, and said he was “sorry for the hurt” they have caused.

“I was made aware of the comments Sunday night,” his email said. “I ordered an investigation the following morning and the comments were removed from the site that day.

“The comments have racial undertones and do not reflect the values of the Ottawa Police Service.”

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson had earlier stopped short of calling the online remarks racist, saying the language used in the comments posted online were “offensive and bordering on being racist.”

Chief Charles Bordeleau’s response:

First and foremost, we all mourn the death of Annie Pootoogook. She was well known by our officers who work the downtown core. We are conducting a full investigation into the circumstances of her tragic death.

I was made aware of the comments Sunday night. I ordered an investigation the following morning and the comments were removed from the site that day.

The comments have racial undertones and do not reflect the values of the Ottawa Police Service. The comments are counter-productive to all the great work the men and women of the Ottawa Police Service do each day to

build strong relationships with our diverse communities. I haven’t spoken to one person at the Ottawa Police Service who agrees with these comments. I am sorry for the hurt these comments have caused.

The member will be held accountable and we will continue to work hard with our communities to build trust.

Police Officers are held to a higher standard. We have numerous oversight bodies that govern our actions that do not exist in many sectors.

As human beings, we all have biases – conscious and unconscious and that is a fact. This does not excuse the comments that were made.

As police officers, it becomes even more important to ensure those biases do not impact the important work we do as we serve our citizens.

Racism will not be tolerated in the Ottawa Police Service. We have been recognized by Ontario’s Human Rights Chief Commissioner for the work that we have done with the community to ensure that we are a bias-neutral police service by developing and implementing a number of policies, procedures and training to promote a culture of mutual respect.

We have reached to a number of community leaders representing Indigenous communities here in Ottawa and will work with them to move forward together.

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